The fifth console entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise. It introduces the half-Native American, half-English Assassin Connor and is set in North America in the late eighteenth century amid the American Revolutionary War.

@astrodoggy: I'd say yes. If we're considering the overall Desmond story to be important, yes, there are some rather shocking developments (particularly toward the end) that make Brotherhood a must-play game.

@benspyda: Revelations offers a little less in the way of 'revelations,' but there are also some critical developments toward the end of game that establish what Desmond's ultimate "real world" goal is.

I enjoyed brotherhood quite a bit. . . i still have revelations in the packaging (I got it during the holidays with skyrim, rayman origins, and uncharted 3. . . out of those games i have only played skyrim and rayman).

There is pertinent information (for instance, the ending) in Brotherhood, so yes, play it. It's also a good game. Revelations, on the other hand, you can skip. It's a decent game, but doesn't advance the overall story much.

Brotherhood is just really, really fun. If you have any interest in Roman architecture you will love climbing on the Duomo and running around the Colosseum. Also, you can call in your bros to do some sick ass ish.

@will_leisure: Well, except for that whole ending sequence wherein Desmond is told what he must do. But you know, you could always watch the ending online or something, right?

Yeah, I forgot about that. I guess I was more referring to the "worth investing 15-20 hours" to "actual revelations" ratio. Like you said, anyone can Youtube the ending. The only reason I played Revelations was because there was nothing else at the time (January), and I have a habit of playing anything decent to the end, but most people aren't like that.

There's still cool things in Revelations, but it really just felt like a stopgap.

Revelations is probably the weakest game of the series but it's still better than 90% of crap out there like sports or racing games. I think you owe it to yourself to consume all the canon of the series to prepare yourself to fully enjoy AC 3, but if you're one of those people who doesn't care much about the story, I guess it's not crucial. Although to me that's like seeing the third Batman movie without seeing the second one. To each his own, I guess.

YES, play it! Brotherhood had a terrible ad campaign because people came out of it thinking that it wasn't a proper sequel. It's definitely a proper sequel and ESSENTIAL to the main storyline.

Then Revelations came out and people started flipping thinking "Oh man THIS is gonna be the REAL sequel." But Revelations ended up being the forgettable game that people thought Brotherhood was going to be.

Maybe I wasn't clear earlier. As a fan of the whole series but also someone with a real job and access to vagina--therefore limited free time--I think you should play them all. Even Revelations, the weakest of the series so far, is great.

Sure, you can catch up on the canon on a wiki or youtube or something...but then why play any of the games at all?

update: been playing brotherhood.. and can admit when I'm wrong. This is a great game. Really like the Assassin's/Contracts/RPG lite stuff. Plus, I added drinking beer to the equation. Good advice people, good advice.